A lorry driver who was probably not wearing a seat belt was flung out of the driver's cabin after his vehicle collided with a tipper.

A coroner's inquiry on Wednesday heard that Mr Karuppiah Palaniappan, 32, an electrical supervisor, was driving the company lorry along Tuas Avenue 20 on March 11 last year when his vehicle had a head-to-side collision with a tipper at a cross-junction of Tuas Crescent.

He had failed to give way to traffic on the main road, resulting in the accident.

He was hurled out of the lorry from the driver's cabin through the front windscreen before landing on the road. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The tipper driver, Mr Lian Ching Chun, 47, who was named a potential defendant, chose to remain silent on Wednesday.

The accident site is a non-signalised controlled junction, with a stop line along Tuas Avenue 20 before the main road of Tuas Crescent.

State Coroner Earnest Lau recorded a verdict of misadventure on his death.

Seat belts have been in the spotlight recently. Two polytechnic students who had not buckled up died after they were flung out of a friend's Mitsubishi Lancer when it skidded off Old Upper Thomson Road on Jan 29. The car plunged downhill before flipping on its side on hitting the trees.

In another horrific accident on Sunday, two passengers and the driver were killed when they were thrown out of a rented Hyundai which skidded, hit a kerb and a tree before it came to a halt on the right side Dunearn Road. A fourth man is still in a coma in hospital.